By Mashood .A Kunateh in Accra, Ghana
Managers of the Ghana Commercial Agricultural Project (GCAP) are confident that the multimillion dollar World Bank and USAID funded project would help boost private sector investments in the country’s agric sector. According to them, the GCAP is working to sanitise and magnetise the agribusiness investment in Ghana. The project is providing the needed support to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to develop a strategic plan for the agric sector.
It is also expected to carry out research on the investment climate in agric, and develop the capacity of GIPC staff for commercial agric investments, a Communication Specialist at GCAP, Eric Adae told journalists at a media retreat at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region. The two-day retreat was meant to update the media about the activities of the novelty project.
WHY GCAP
For GCAP, commercial agric is defined as anywhere along the agric value chain that has a market orientation. The project’s ultimate beneficiaries are the poor smallholder farmers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who take advantage of the opportunities offer by the GCAP.
The project, which is under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), is estimated to cost a whopping sum of $145 million, of which the World Bank’s private sector arm-International Development Agency (IDA) will provide a credit of $100 million and USAID grant of 45 million.
The GCAP is scheduled to be implemented over a five year period starting in July 2012 to September 2017. But it technically started in June 2013. This delay was caused by the design of the project, Mr Adae explained.
The project is being rolled out in two strategically selected locations in Ghana, namely the Accra Plains, and the Northern Ecological Zone also known as the Savannah Accelerated Development Agency Zone (SADA Zone), which encompasses Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions, and parts of northern Volta and Brong Ahafo regions.
In the Accra Plains, he further explained that; “the project is focusing on the entire commodity value chains of maize, rice, and fruits and vegetables. In the SADA Zone, attention is being paid to the maize, rice, and soya value chains”. GCAP seeks to ensure increased access to secure land, private sector finance, input and output markets by smallholder farms from public-private partnerships (PPPs) in commercial agric in the Accra Plains, and the SADA Zone, he noted.
PROMOTING ACCESS TO SECURE LAND
Mr Adae revealed that; “GCAP is working to develop land banks that will help attract investors. “Such lands would be thoroughly screened to ensure that they were made with the informed consent of participating communities; that there were no objections from within the community, especially among land users, and the vulnerable in those societies”.
The GCAP is also developing a model lease agreement, as the basis of community-level engagement between communities and investors. He stressed: “As part of these arrangements, the project is also undertaking a land diagnostic assessment on 40,000 hectares in the Nasia-Nabogo valley of the SADA Zone to inform the development of 20,000 hectares land in the valley. In the Accra Plains, GCAP is undertaking another land diagnostic assessment on 20,000 hectares”.
SUPPORT TO PPPS
The Public Investment Division of the Ministry of Finance is providing GCAP with the needed technical support to undertake PPPs in the agric sector. In this regard, Mr Adae noted that GCAP was making substantial investment in irrigation systems and infrastructure, by developing a 6.8 Km gravity-based irrigation canal, under PPP arrangements.
This is designed to irrigate some 11,000 hectares under gravity within the immediate command area. A substantially larger area will be reached outside the command area, using pumped irrigation. on the project is on course. A pre-feasibility study is completed, while the process for procuring the services of a Transaction Advisor is in progress, the communication specialist disclosed.
Also, under the PPP arrangements also, Mr Adae noted that GCAP would finance the rehabilitation and construction of agric storage infrastructure and processing facilities in the SADA Zone. These he mentioned would include the rehabilitation of state-owned agric storage facilities and warehouses in the project beneficiary areas of the SADA Zone.
NASIA-NABOGO LAND DEV’T
The Technical Advisor of GCAP, Ram Bhavnani used the occasion to throw more light on the Nasia-Nabogo land development technology. According to him, GCAP is working with the Land Administration Project Two (LAP II) to undertake a comprehensive aerial survey, using LIDAR survey technology to provide colour orthophoto maps and the derivation of digital line maps for the Nasia-Nabogo valley in the Northern Region.
He was quick to add: “GCAP is also undertaking a technical feasibility study on developing these valleys. This study will provide information for investor promotion packs, marketing of the opportunities, attracting investors, and facilitating investor entry and operations in the Nasia-Nabogo valley”.
SOLVING DISPUTES
GCAP is establishing a Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) that will enable a broad range of stakeholders including investors, smallholder farmers, and host communities to channel concerns, questions, and complaints to the project management team, Mr Bhavnani assured.
SAFEGUARDS
A Social Science Specialist at the GCAP, Robert Abaane noted GCAP was ensuring that social and environmental safeguards (accountability in accordance with World Bank guidelines) are factored into all investments by working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of MoFA, community-based NGOs, and other social and environmental NGOs.
The Project Coordinator of GCAP, Alabi Bortey said the novelty project was working with partners including the GIPC, Ghana Irrigation Development Authority, Lands Commission and PPRSD of MoFA.He used the occasion to assure Ghanaians and the project financiers that the project would help address most of the challenges facing agric investments in the country.
Mr. Bortey, therefore, appealed to the youth to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the project to better their lots.
–African Eye News
